Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI • Hacker News Board

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#631

Post by gosub100 » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 9:22 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #593

gosub100 wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's not surprising that humans are still okay with harming others to personally get ahead. Recruiters are harming me by taking a cut of my salary and offering nothing of value other than screening some calls and adding my resume to a spam listing and robodialer. Do you think I care about harming them

Employers pay big fees to recruiters who deliver qualified candidates. Recruiters are middlemen, and middlemen match customers with providers. For that, they get paid. They are not "harming" either, as the relationship and deals made are voluntary.

They don't need a percentage of my salary. Why don't they work hourly like I do? I don't work for a percentage of the company's revenue

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#632

Post by hashmush » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 9:40 PM UTC

rahimnathwani wrote: post #613

hashmush wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. What is the right answer? Doesn't it depend on the DB? Postgres at least shows rows ordered by last updated time (simplified, I know). I would be fine if it was "... near the top or bottom" though. (Or maybe this comment is the correct answer?)

Sorry, I wrote this in a hurry. Of course I would have included an ORDER BY clause.

The one without that clause was still fun to think about, so no harm done!

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#633

Post by minimally » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 9:41 PM UTC

>Had we moved this candidate forward, I have no doubt that they would have been able to use AI to pass the take home project with flying colors.

Yes, developers use AI in 2025 and this will only increase as the technology gets better. Shaming the use of AI is like taking away a plumber's toolbox because you'd prefer they work with thier hands alone. Developers at all levels have a use for AI, and given two developers with the same skill level why wouldn't you prefer one who could use AI as a tool.

If you are already hiring an engineer on their output over their comprehension, rate the output that they give you

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#634

Post by yencabulator » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 10:57 PM UTC

baketnk wrote: post #395

drivingmenuts wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general rule seems to be if you’re not customer-facing, then no suit is needed. Just wear clean, neat clothes and that’s usually enough. If a suit or uniform is needed, that would be noted up front.

is it bad form to just like, ask your HR screener what the general dress code/vibe is like?

These days, the screener is often external to the company and has never visited the office.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#635

Post by Terretta » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 10:59 PM UTC

graemep wrote: post #309

siva7 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't take that advice seriously. Suit in tech would be awkward (even for most mgmt roles). Tech pioneered the concept that you don't need a suit to get the pay of a suit. You can be yourself.

It has spread to other industries and circumstances other than suits. I now have no idea how I am supposed to dress for most things other than formal occasions like wedding, funerals, or formal dinners.

> I now have no idea how I am supposed to dress for most things

Can't go wrong with “smart casual”

// not sure that helps :)

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#636

Post by Terretta » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 11:03 PM UTC

crabbone wrote: post #355

sethammons wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general rule is to dress one step up from those in the role. Everyone in hoodie and shorts? Wear pants. Everyone in collared polos? Go business casual with maybe a blazer. Showing up a level lower makes you look unprepared. Showing up some levels higher, like in a suit to a hoodie shop, shows lack of research and reading a room. In start ups, I have seen candidates nearly rejected just on a suit alone. Def starte…

Erm... no? The highest ranking person I ever shook hands with was the GP Morgan head of futures department. He came to talk to the whole company to prep for acquisition. So, it wasn't a super official "ceremony", but it was in front of some fifty men, including senior management of the said company. He was wearing a polo shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers. I don't know if this is how he'd show up to his office in th…

> the GP Morgan head of futures department... I don't know if this is how he'd show up to his office in the bank

In case you mean JP Morgan, here's the CEO, Jamie Dimon, on cover of annual shareholder letter, back in ... 2015:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jamie-dimons-style-telling-jp...

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#637

Post by throwaway31131 » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 11:05 PM UTC

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #607

tyzoid wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who cares what experience in your resume was a lie and what not Just being blunt: that's called Fraud. Making false representations for personal gain (employment, in this case) is one of the classic examples. It doesn't matter if nobody checks in the moment, or if you usually get away with it, dishonesty is dishonesty. If I were to discover that someone joined my team under false pretenses, you can bet I'll have ve…

Not the case in my jurisdiction, exaggerating in your resume is not illegal. And I really don't care, call it whatever you want if that makes you feel better. Companies are dishonest all the time to their customers and to their workers and especially to their candidates. Been screwed 3 times by dishonest employers, I'm only reciprocating their attitude. I'm just playing the game so that I come up on top the same way…

Are you former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson? Because that’s what he said too.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/05/08/yahoo-ceo...

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#638

Post by throwaway31131 » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 11:08 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #551

before_the_law wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I "prepare with AI" by having it help give me hints when doing leetcode problems I've been really impressed with how much a of performance lift working on leetcode with AI is. It's so much easier to focus on developing rapid problem decomposition skills and working with an interviewer during the problem. Unfortunately it's also necessary to improve this process because the current standards for the companies still…

English is not my first language, and yet I'm fluent, but some of the questions I've been asked to solve are insanely confusingly worded and so I have a harder time because the interview process at some places is unrealistic.

The interviewer might be looking to see how you deal with bad specifications which, in my experience, are also often confusingly worded, vague and/or conflicting.

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#639

Post by zeroonetwothree » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 11:13 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #303

jaredklewis wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - And yeah, you guys, it's time to buy a suit. Others have already commented on this, but do you work in tech? IME getting interviewed by directors and even VPs in t-shirts is the norm. I’ve worn jeans to work my whole career. If anything, I think people in tech have a strong prejudice against people in suits (ie “obviously this person isn’t a real software engineer, they’re wearing a suit.”) Anyway, probably not g…

I was once turned down by Microsoft (in the 1990s), because I wore a suit to the interview. They made a point of mentioning it.

I was hired by MS wearing a suit in the 2000s

Re: Interviewing a software engineer who prepared with AI

#640

Post by yencabulator » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 11:16 PM UTC

microtherion wrote: post #205

no-dr-onboard wrote: post #45

I keep coming back to this phrase used in this post: "it was scary". Yeah, hiring is scary. Hiring is insanely expensive on all fronts. Firing people is difficult, it's expensive and legally exposing. Hiring the wrong person, allowing them access your systems and potentially exfiltrate your IP to them is a hazardous but necessary venture. The thing is, none of these things really changed with AI. People have been lyi…

> And yeah, you guys, it's time to buy a suit. At my previous employer, I had to convince several people in my team that wearing a suit was NOT a reason to reject a candidate out of hand. It's really difficult to gauge the expected dress code at a company beforehand, but it's not good advice to just blindly dress up.

Perhaps the suit wasn't the one level up that people are talking about? If you accidentally go 3 levels too formal, you've definitely ruined the initial impression.

Me personally, I like working at places where people can wear shorts and flip-flops. One level up is "pants and shoes, with socks", not even a collared shirt. Maybe a single-color new T-shirt, to be safe. A full suit would be an alarmingly bad read of the culture, and at that point we'd have made you come eat lunch at a burrito place to get a read on whether you're really a bad fit or just socially awkward.

The best thing I heard from an interviewee that was wearing a suit was that they interviewed elsewhere nearby that morning, and those people needed to be impressed with clothing.